What I Said at Her Service

My morning poem from Mary Oliver’s Thirst.  

         “When we pray to love God perfectly,

               surely we do not mean only.

          (Lord, see how well I have done).”

When I first read this, I didn’t grasp it, so as I usually do, I read again, look away, return, and read it repeatedly. I’ve learned that her expression of grief has more meaning for me, for us all. So short and yet so deep, so full is this poem. The magnitude of these words stops me, I pause and realize the depth of Mary’s grief, of her absolute love for her partner of 40 years.

Yet I see another message here that really speaks to me.

To Understand, to grasp, to Know that our Creator God exists in everyone, and everything means, in the simplest yet most complicated way that my task and yours is to see this, Truth. To Know this Truth and to surrender to a state of Being Love at all times, to love completely All and Everything without question so when our time comes to leave this body and enter the Loving embrace of my glorious God, I, too, can say:

Lord, see how well I have done.

With thanks to Mary…